A Turtle Story
by LyricalRhymeChild
Summary: A new ememy poses a threat to the Ninja Turtles.
1. Part I: Splinter's Capture

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  
  
Part I: Leo's Capture  
  
Note: This story was made in Raph's POV.  
  
Four turtles and a rat lived deep underground. They were once normal, but a substance called mutagen had changed them forever.  
  
Turtle's lair-10:00pm...  
  
I threw a dart at the board and it hit the bulls' eye. "Perfection." I said. As I looked around, nobody was payin' much attention; they were all busy with their own stuff. Leo was meditatin', Mike was drawin', Don was workin' on one of his doohickeys, and Splinter was in the kitchen havin' tea. Just then, Leo jumped up.  
  
"April's in trouble!" he said.  
  
"And we have to go and save the day, right?" I asked.  
  
"C'mon dudes, let's go." Mikey said tiredly.  
  
So we grabbed our gear and went to save April.  
  
April's apartment building-10:30pm...  
  
When we got there, we couldn't see any trouble, so we went up to her apartment. Upstairs, a bunch of clowns (literally) were pointin' guns at her.  
  
"Give us your money!" ordered one.  
  
"Or we'll plug ya!" said another.  
  
"Alright shows' over." Said Leo. The two circus freaks turned around and met up with me and Leo's fists. I'll tell you somethin'. In all the years I've been a ninja turtle (15) fightin' crime and all, I've never see someone so stunned from a punch like that.  
  
"Rookies." I said as I stepped over them to talk to April.  
  
"You all right?" I asked her. She looked around a bit dazed.  
  
"Yeah, thanks." She said.  
  
"Don't mention it." Leo butted-in, "C'mon let's go. April, you call the police." He said. Why's it always seem like he's always tellin' people what to do? I can't even have a nice conversation with April without him screwin' it up! On the way out, I saw a three of spades lying' on the ground. Clutter, I thought.  
  
Turtle's lair-11:15pm...  
  
When we got home, we were all so beat.  
  
"I'm gonna hit the hay." Don said.  
  
"Me too, dude." Said Mike.  
  
"I think we all should." Leo said. There he goes again! Tellin' people what's best for them. Man, I'm getting' sick of this crap! But, I was tired, so I went to bed.  
  
Turtle's lair-9:00am...  
  
When I woke up I heard cryin' from the kitchen. I jumped outta bed to see what was goin' on. In the kitchen, Mike was sittin' at the table with his head in his hands bawlin'. I grabbed the closest chair and tried to see what was the matter.  
  
"Mikey, what's wrong?" I asked him. He looked up with glassy eyes.  
  
"Splinter." He said. My heart skipped a beat. Splinter...is he deathly ill...or even worse?  
  
"What about Splinter?" I asked.  
  
"He's *sniff* gone." Mike said before he started to cry again.  
  
"Gone! When?"  
  
"I don't *sniff* know. He was in his bed last night before I went to bed and now *sniff* he's gone!"  
  
"Do Don and Leo know?"  
  
"Nah. They're still asleep."  
  
"Well, wake 'em up, we gotta go find Splinter." Mikey quickly ran into Don and Leo's rooms to wake them up. Back in the kitchen, I sat at the table trying to take it all in. Splinter had disappeared before, but not in the middle of the night. Then, Mike, Don, and Leo ran into the kitchen.  
  
"Alright. Here's the plan..." Leo said, already barkin' orders.  
  
"Leo, I've had it with you always tellin' us what to do! We're not your slaves!!!" I said.  
  
"I'm the leader! It's my job!" He replied.  
  
"Don't you think that we can think for ourselves?" I argued.  
  
"Yeah, but you still need instruction."  
  
"Instruction? Instruction my green..."  
  
"WAIT!!!" Don interrupted, "Can't we concentrate on saving master Splinter first?" he said.  
  
Everyone was quiet as he walked over to his workbench and picked up some thingamajig. "This..." he started, holding up the...thing, "...device, well it's actually a camcorder, has been on all night. So if anyone did break in and take Splinter, it'll be on a tape. Any questions?"  
  
We shook our heads. Don walked over to the VCR and put the tape in. When he hit play, it was blank, so he fast-forwarded it until there was action. The door started to budge a little but wasn't opened. Then, after a little more force was applied the door opened with a small thud. Not big enough to wake anyone. I stepped back and looked at the door. No sign of forced entry. Then, about three people came through the door and disappeared off screen. There was a very small noise, I couldn't make out what it was, and then, the same three people came back carrying master Splinter. They made sure no one was awake when they left, they even closed the door!  
  
"They're probably working for Shredder." Leo said.  
  
"No." Don said.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"If they were working for Shredder, they would have killed us and master Splinter, instead of just kidnapping him." Don explained, "Besides, we saw him die."  
  
"Yeah, about three times (The two movies and the fanfic Rescue Mission). Ya never know, he could still be alive somewhere out there." I said.  
  
"Like, how're we gonna find out who these guys are and where they're H.Q. is?" Mike asked.  
  
"I'll just take prints from the scene of the crime." Don answered. He walked up to the door and started examining stuff. Meanwhile, the rest of us had breakfast. As I reached for the box of Frosted Flakes, it moved away from my hand. Weird, I thought. Then, Mikey's head popped up from behind the box.  
  
"Too slow, bro." he said.  
  
"Funny Mike, now just give me the box!" I demanded.  
  
"Fine." He said holding it out for me to grab. As I reached for it, he pulled it away.  
  
"Look, Mike, you're really testin' my patients!"  
  
"Alright, here." I quickly took the box out of his hands and poured a bowl.  
  
"Ah ha!" Don said in the background. When I looked over, he was holdin' up a playin' card, it was the three of spades.  
  
"What? It's a card, big deal!" I said.  
  
"Maybe it's special." Leo said.  
  
"Very special, indeed." Don said, "Hey Mike, where's our deck of cards?" he asked.  
  
"They...uh...got shredded. Remember? That time Raph got mad." he replied. I felt my cheeks turn red, luckily, no one noticed.  
  
"Exactly, this card doesn't belong to us. One of the 'intruders' must have dropped it." Don explained.  
  
"Why don't you dust it for fingerprints or something?" Leo asked.  
  
"Good idea." Don responded. He quickly turned around and took a brush and powder from his workbench and began workin'. Then, he took a picture of the card, took the picture (it was one of those cameras where the picture comes outta the bottom), scanned it into his computer and did some typin'. It turns out that the fingerprints belonged to some guy named Jack. Donny said that the last name wasn't listed. Among things that weren't listed were an address, phone number, or even the city or state that he was livin' in.  
  
"Hey dudes, maybe this is one of those 'unsolved mysteries'. Maybe this guy is a convict!" Mike exclaimed.  
  
"Or maybe he's a giant mutant whatever trained in some kind of self-defense!" I said sarcastically.  
  
"Maybe..." Mike said in wonder.  
  
Suddenly, Don's Turtlecom started beeping. He opened it. April was on the line.  
  
"Guys...help me! They're back! ...need...help!" Then, her picture faded away.  
  
"What was that all about?" Mike asked.  
"April's in trouble!" Don answered.  
  
"Again? Let's go." I said tiredly.  
  
April's apartment building-11:00am...  
  
When the turtles finally got to April's apartment, the same two clowns were there. This time, April was tied to a chair and gagged, while the clowns searched her residence. They searched as if they were lookin' for somethin'.  
  
"Ya know what, clowns are funny." Mike said. The two immediately turned around.  
  
"And pretty stupid, too." I said. This time the clowns had bigger guns. One pointed his MP-5 my way, and the other pointed his M-16 Assault Rifle at Mike.  
  
"One more step and you'll be turtle soup!" One threatened.  
  
"You have no idea how much we get that." I said.  
  
"Shut up, he's not jokin'." Said the other. Then Don and Leo stepped forwards.  
  
"What about us?" Leo asked. The clowns were pretty surprised. "On three, charge." Leo whispered his orders.  
  
"No. There has to be a better plan." I said.  
  
"While there isn't." Leo said.  
  
"Says who?" I asked.  
  
"Me. After all, I am the leader."  
  
"Well then, I quit!"  
  
"GUYS!!!" Mike said, "I'm sick of this! I hate to see you fight! Look, there's two clowns with guns holding April captive. Leo and me will distract them while you and Don take 'em out. Okay?"  
  
"Fine" , we all agreed. As Leo and Mike ran to the right side of the room, Don and I snuck behind the clowns. Don knocked one unconscious with his bo, while I stabbed the other one with my sai. As he fell to the ground, he let out a barrage of shots from his M-16. Then, April let out a scream, probably from all of the blood comin' outta the clown. I grabbed him by his collar and lifted him to eye level.  
  
"How'd you get outta jail?" I asked.  
  
"He...got me...out." He coughed, "And he's...gonna get...you...he'll...kill you!" Then his eyes rolled back in his head. I felt his chest, no pulse.  
  
"One down." I muttered under my breath, droppin' the clown corpse. As I glanced to the door, I saw Mike and Don crouching down. When I walked over, they moved apart so that I could see what happened. This time, my heart almost stopped, this was the true reason April screamed.  
  
"Raph, go untie April, I'll take care of this." Don said. As I stood up, I fought to keep my balance. I quickly ran over to where April was and untied her, then we ran back to Mike and Don.  
  
Turtle's lair-12:30pm...  
  
"How is he?" I asked.  
  
"I don't know yet." Don said.  
  
"This is my fault, isn't it, for not obeying our leader."  
  
"Raph, don't blame yourself."  
  
"But I..."  
  
"Hand me that scalpel." I reached over to the nearby table and gave Don the scalpel.  
  
"Boy, it's in their deep." He said.  
  
Turtle's lair-2:00pm...  
  
"There! Done." Don finally said after I went through about eight cans of soda, from the nerves, "April can bring Leo to her apartment while the rest of us look for Splinter." Suddenly my mind flashed back to recent events. I heard April scream, told the clown off, saw Mike and Don crouching down, saw Leo bullet ridden on the floor, untied April, and found another playin' card by her door.  
  
"That's it!!!" I said.  
  
"What?!" Don and Mike asked. I pulled out the two threes of spades.  
  
"Where'd you get the second one?" Mike asked.  
  
"I found it by April's door. Don't you get it? The same person that sent those clowns to April's also kidnapped Splinter." I said.  
  
"How do ya figure?" Don asked.  
  
"The three of spades! Wherever there was a crime, I found this card." I explained.   
  
"Yeah, so?" Mike asked.  
  
"Oh! So we can use this to figure out where they'll strike next, right." Don said.  
  
"Yep." I responded.  
  
"Maybe there's some sort of pattern." Mike tried.  
  
"Let's see, our house, April's, ours, April's...they'll be back." Don said.  
  
"So all we gotta do is wait." I said.  
  
Turtle's lair-3:00am...  
  
"Mike, you awake?" I asked. A snore was all that came outta him, "Wake up!" I said gently pushing his shoulder. He quickly woke up. Just then, there was a thud at the door.  
  
"Showtime!" Don whispered as we scattered into the darkness. Three people came back again, two clowns and someone dressed really weird. It was too dark to really tell. They went through our rooms. When they came back empty-handed, they started to leave. Now it was our time to shine!  
  
"Go!" I whispered. The three of us filed out the door, following the 'suspects'. Luckily, all three of us were trained in the ancient art of self-defense called ninjitsu. We used it to our advantage. Master Splinter taught us the fightin' and the other techniques. Such as meditation (Leo's favorite), the art of sneakin', and the art of forgivin'. So anyway, we followed these guys to some building. There was this huge guard standin' at the door.  
  
Hideout-4:00am...  
  
The three guys walked up to the door.  
  
"Password?" asked the guard.  
  
"The rat's cheese." Said one.  
  
"Have fun tonight." Said the guard lettin' the men in. Now it was our turn. As we stepped up to the door, the guy's eyes bugged outta his head when he got a look at us.  
  
"Password?" the guard asked unsure of the whole situation.  
  
"The rat's cheese." I said.  
  
"Nope." He said.  
  
"But you just let them in with that password!" I said pointing to the door.  
  
"It changed." He shrugged.  
  
"Komodo?" Mike asked.  
  
"No." the guard replied.  
  
"Pepperoni?" Don asked.  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Rutabaga?" I asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Okay, let's see..." I said turning to Mike and Don, "I got it!"  
  
"Me too." They both said.  
  
"Splinter!" we all said.  
  
"Have fun tonight." He said as he opened the door, "You look like new members, what're your names?"  
  
"Um...uh...J...James." I said.  
  
"Frank." Don said.  
  
"Mortimer." Mike said.  
  
Inside, was like nothin' I've ever seen before! The music was blarin', there were lights movin' all over the walls, and people just havin' a good time.  
  
"Duuude!!!" Mike said almost in shock.  
  
"Now we've gotta find Splinter, that's our first priority." Don said, "Now, we have to think of a plan."  
  
"What if we split up and search for him?" Mike said.  
  
"Good idea." Don said.  
  
"I'll take the catwalk thing." I said pointin' to what looked like a fire escape runnin' all around the room with doors off of it leadin' to who knows where.  
  
"I'll take the basement. Which give you this floor." Don said to Mike, "Now if you find him call the others on your Turtlecom."  
  
"Right." We agreed.  
  
As I ran up the stairs, Don took the elevator to the basement, and Mike started walkin' around.  
  
On the fire escape, I entered the first door. Inside, were a bunch of people standin' around drinkin' just about anythin' you can think of.  
  
"Howdy!" I said waving. One man gave me an angry look, so I quietly and quickly left. Then, I tried the next door. Oh, you shoulda seen this one! A bunch of hippies were runnin' into walls. What a sight! They musta been all drugged up or somethin', because I can't see how anyone in their right mind would do somethin' this stupid! The next door was locked. I quickly pulled out the lock picking kit Leo gave me on my last birthday. Thanks Leo. I thought as a tear rolled down my cheek. As I opened the door I saw Splinter! He was tied and gagged just like April except he was lyin' on an orange couch.  
  
"Master..." I said. He looked at me and mumbled somethin'. I untied him.  
  
"Raphael. I knew you would come through." he said, "Where are your brothers?", he asked.  
  
"Downstairs." I said pullin' out my Turtlecom, "I found him." I said.  
  
"Where?" Don asked.  
  
"Upstairs, third door." I instructed. Mike and Don were up there in no time.  
  
"Where is Leonardo?" Splinter asked.  
  
"He's at April's." Mike said.  
  
"Why is he not here?" sensei asked.  
  
"He...he got shot." I said sadly. Splinter's eyes got watery.  
  
"I tried to contact him through meditation and kept getting no response." He said.  
  
"Do you think he's..." Don drifted off.  
  
"No...it's not his time." Splinter answered.  
  
"C'mon, it's payback time." I said as we all walked out the door. Master Splinter said that the guy who had kidnapped him had injected him with some sort of anestetic to knock him out, that musta been what that small noise was on the video Don showed us. Don pulled out a small blood testing kit and hooked it up to his Palm Pilot. He tested Splinter for toxins or anythin' that will harm his body. Everythin' came back negative. Whoever did this wanted him to live. Splinter also said that the person who kidnapped him was wearing a jester outfit from medieval times. That's just plain weird. I thought.  
  
"Now we've gotta find some maniac in a jester outfit." Don said as we entered the next door. And just as he said that, we were in the presence of the world's ugliest jester. He was leaning against a wall talkin' to some other people. He looked a bit surprised and perplexed.  
  
"Ahh...I see you've found the rat." He said in a lively voice. Suddenly, everythin' went dark. The jester guy appeared in the middle, on a platform with a spotlight shinin' down on him.  
  
"You may not recognize me, because you've never met me. But...you've met my...my...father." He said.  
  
"Father? Who?" Don asked.  
  
"Oroku Saki...or... the Shredder. Some call me JACK, others call me ACE, they all say that I'm the KING of cards, but you probably think I'm just a JOKER." He said.  
  
"Oh man! We finally got rid of Tin Grin, and now we gotta deal with you?!" I said pretty ticked off.  
  
"I know that you killed my father. That's why I kidnapped the rat." He explained, "You killed my father now I must kill you."  
  
"Technically, it wasn't us that killed him the last time but, bring it!" I said as we took out our weapons. He sent a huge playin' card flyin' at me I ducked it. Then, it turned around and hit me in the back. As the card sent me to the ground face first, I heard Mike and Don get hit too. When I looked over, they were layin' on the ground with their eyes closed. "They're just unconscious" I kept tellin' myself. Oddly enough, Splinter wasn't gettin' touched. He was sittin' on the ground meditatin'.  
  
"What? Is that it? I have defeated all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" said Jack.  
  
"Except one." came a voice from the shadows. When I looked over, I saw Leo step outta the darkness. He had a bandage runnin' across his chest and up his left shoulder. When I tried to stand up and run over to him I couldn't. I couldn't even feel my legs anymore. One thought crossed my mind: I'm paralyzed. I actually laughed at the Image comic where Don was paralyzed, only because I never thought it could happen. I never thought it would happen. Leo drew both of his swords.  
  
"C'mon," he said, "fight me like a man, with no special powers." Jack was a bit drawn aback by this whole setup. He regained his composure, jumped off of his platform, and landed about two feet in front of Leo.  
  
"Okay, let's go." he agreed. Leo went to stab him in the stomach but Jack was too quick, he immediately jumped out of the way and kicked him in the face. He fell back a bit, but got right up. Now he was mad! Jack had insulted his honor! He wasn't gonna stand for it. He raised his swords and slashed down violently, cutting into Jack's arms. He yelled out in pain. Then, Leo slashed across Jack's body, slicing through him. Jack fell to the ground and started coughing up blood.  
  
"Words of advice: NEVER mess with a ninja, especially after you've kidnapped his sensei!" Leo said, panting. Then he fell to his knees in exhaustion.  
  
"Leo...I'm sorry..." I called softly. He looked up.  
  
"Raph?!" he said hopeful.  
  
"I'm sorry..." I said.  
Leo ran over to my side and brought me to a sittin' position.  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked.  
  
"Leo...I...I can't feel my legs!" I said.  
  
"Oh man...this is bad. What about Don and Mike?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know." I replied as he went over to them. Suddenly, I heard him gasp. "What? What?" I yelled.  
  
"Don just got knocked unconscious, but Mikey has no pulse!" he responded. I felt my stomach churn. Not my baby brother, not the one who said he hated it when we fought with each other. It was because of him that we stayed together all these years. What will we do without Mikey?  
  
"Wha...where...Leo? How?" a familiar voice broke my thoughts. Don had awaken.  
  
"Thank God!" Leo said foldin' his hands.  
  
"What happened?" Don asked.  
  
"Mike has no pulse, and Raph can't feel his legs." Leo explained. Don stood up, whipped out his Palm Pilot and started doin' a bunch of tests on Mikey.  
  
"We're gonna have to bring Mike back to my lab so I can actually help him. I can't do a whole lot with just my Palm Pilot." Don said.  
  
"Right." Leo agreed, "There's just one thing I have to do." He said as he walked over to Jack's body. "THIS..." he stabbed his sword directly into him, "is for all the pain you put us through." Then, he pulled his sword out and put it in its sheath. "C'mon." He said pickin' me up.  
  
"Master...are you coming?" Don asked pickin' up Mike and turnin' to Splinter.  
  
"Huh? Oh...yes." He said getting out of his trance-like state and followin' us back home.  
  
That was part one of "A Turtle Story". Look for the other part soon. I hope you've enjoyed it. Thank all of you for your reviews on "Rescue Mission", I took the suggestions into consideration when I wrote this story. Thanks again.  



	2. Part II: The Fight For Survival

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  
  
Part II: The Fight For Survival  
  
This story is the sequel to "A Turtle Story Part I: Leo's Capture". It is also written in Raph's POV  
  
  
The sun started to rise over Manhattan. It was a sign that even though bad things happen; the sun will still rise day after day. It showed that somehow things were all right in the world. Mike used to say that it meant that everything would be okay.  
  
Don's lab-6:30am...  
  
Don laid Mike on his lab table and hooked a bunch of sticky wire things on him. As Don started feedin' info into his computer, Leo and I kneeled down and started prayin'. Oh God...please let Mikey be okay. I thought. After about a few minutes, Donny let out a tired grunt.  
  
"What is it Donatello?" Leo asked.  
  
"These figures...they just don't add up." Don replied. Then, master Splinter walked over and laid his hands on Mike's head and said a prayer in Japanese.  
  
"Now try it." He said. Don quickly fed more info into his computer.  
  
"Whoa!" he said, almost fallin' outta his chair. It seems that master Splinter had actually given Mikey his pulse back. But the bad news was that Mike was in a coma or somethin'.  
  
"Hey...Mike...can you hear me?" Don said to him. There was no response. I rolled up to Mike in the wheelchair Don made for me.  
  
"Mike...it's me...Raph. Wake up!" I whispered, still no response.   
  
"Can you make him awake, master?" asked Leo.  
  
"No my son, that is something he must do on his own." Splinter replied.  
  
For days, Donny tried all he could. He did everythin' possible to help Mike, but unfortunately, none of it seemed to be workin'. Luckily, Mike kept his steady heartbeat. It was so sad to see him just lyin' on the table, expressionless. Days turned into weeks. A few weeks later somethin' happened.  
  
Turtle's lair-2:00pm...  
  
"Got any threes?" I asked Leo.  
  
"Go fish." He answered as I took a card from the overturned deck in the middle of the table.  
  
"Duuuuuude..." came a familiar voice. Mike was alive!!! We all rushed over to him.  
  
"Mike, how do you feel?" Don asked.  
  
"Tired...and...a bit...hungry." He replied. Don ran into the kitchen, heated up a microwave pizza from the fridge, and gave it to Mike. He scarfed it down in about five minutes.  
  
"Same ol' Mikey!" I said.  
  
"RAPH! Wha...what happened to you?!" he said in horror.  
  
"When I got slammed, my legs were disabled somehow." I explained.  
  
"Dude, that sucks, man." He said sympathetically.  
  
"Thanks." I responded. So, things went great for weeks until one day.  
  
Turtle's lair-12:15pm...  
  
"Hey Mike, what kind of pizza do you want?" Leo yelled to Mike across the room. There was no response, "Mike...Mike...hey, Mike..." He walked over to him and shook his shoulder. Mike was back in his coma!  
  
"Don!" I yelled into the kitchen. He quickly ran out.  
  
"What?!" he asked, looking pretty scared.  
  
"Mike...I think he's back in his coma!" I said. Yet, again, Don tested him. "Well?" I said impatiently.  
  
"Yep." He replied. A few more days later Mike awoke.  
  
"Mikey!!!" I said cheerfully. He slowly sat up.  
  
"Dude, where am I?" he asked.  
  
"You're at the lair." Don said.  
  
"Oh man..." he said rubbin' his head.  
  
"Hey, Mike." Don started, "I did some tests on your brain and it looks like you have a little brain damage. When you go into a coma, what do you see?"  
  
"Mostly meadows with bright, colorful flowers. Then I see some...person. He keeps tellin' me to come towards him, but when I try to, either I fall or I'm too slow and he disappears, and then I wake up." He explained.  
  
"Hmm. I've read about these types of things before. They say it's like you've died, but then you come back to life." Donny explained. Mike looked a bit confused and overwhelmed at this concept. He sat for a few minutes tryin' to figure this whole thing out.  
  
After a few minutes of careful consideration, he said "I'm hungry."  
  
"I'll make you another pizza and give you time to think." Don said as he started for the kitchen.  
  
"Wait!" Mike said, "I...don't want pizza." We're in shock. Mikey not havin' pizza? "How 'bout a tossed salad." He replied.  
  
"Um...okay." Don said walkin' into the kitchen.  
  
"I think he did get brain damage." I said to Leo.  
  
"Me too." He responded.  
  
Turtle's lair-1:05pm...  
  
"Hey Raph, great news." Don said walkin' into the lair from his tunnel with a book in his hands.  
  
"What? Carmen Electra wrote a response to my letter?" I said hopefully.  
  
"Um, no. Something even better!" he said.  
  
"I won the lottery?"  
  
"No, I..."  
  
"Wait, I'm gettin' the hang of this!", I interrupted, "I won a new car?" Don crossed his arms and shook his head. "I won an old car? Leo ran away and I've become Splinter's best pupil?" Don just kept shakin' his head. "I...what?"  
  
"I've found something to give you your legs back." He said finally.  
  
"Oh...that...is also good."  
  
"It's called genetic regeneration." He continued, "See, if I take molecules from one limb and regenerate blah blah blah blah blah blah blah..." he went on...and on and on and on. Hey look, a quarter!, I thought as I bent down to pick it up.  
  
"RAPH! Are you listening?" he growled.  
  
"Um...to tell you the truth Donny." I paused, "No." He started grumblin' to himself as he went back to his tunnel, "Hey, look at it this way, I wouldn't have understood a word you said!", I yelled to him. Maybe I should've been nicer to him. Ah well, can't change the past, right?  
  
Turtle's lair-2:10pm...  
  
This whole "genetic regeneration" thing was really startin' to spark my interest. Wouldn't it be cool to have workin' legs again? So, I rolled up to Donny's tunnel entrance.  
  
"Don...I'm sorry." I said.  
  
"Go away, you don't care about my research, no one does." He responded.  
  
"I care, remember that time you did that apple experiment? You asked me if I would eat an apple for you and I did, I did it for your research." I tried.  
  
"True. What did you want?" he asked.  
  
"I want you to do this 'regeneration' thing." I said. All of the sudden, I heard a thud and Don walked into the livin' room.  
  
Don's lab-2:30pm...  
  
Don strapped me down to one of his lab tables and stuck those "sticky wire things" on me. Then, for about the next half an hour, he kept doin' tests on me.  
  
"Okay, it's show time." He said.  
  
"Ya know, I really wish you would stop sayin' that!" I said a bit angered. He apologized and began to put me to sleep.  
  
Turtle's lair-10:32am...  
  
"Whoa! What...where...who...how..." I stuttered as I regained consciousness.  
"Well, that leaves why and when." A blurred Don said, standin' above me.  
  
"Donny," I sat up and rubbed my eyes, "that is old! So, where's Mike?" I asked.  
  
"In there." He said pointin' to the kitchen. I jumped off the table and walked into the kitchen, "How've you been..." Everyone stopped what they were doin' and stared at me, "Mike. What? Do I have somethin' hangin' outta my nose?"  
  
"Raph," Leo said, "you're...you're walking!"  
  
"Yeah, so? I...HOLY COW!" I said almost fallin' over backwards in amazement, "D...D...Donny, check this out!" Don came into the kitchen, "I...I can walk!"  
  
"I know." Was all he said in response.  
  
"Thank you!" I said shakin' his hand.  
  
"You're going to have to train very hard to get the strength back to your legs" he said.  
  
"Okay. Hey Leo, you and me in the dojo, right now!" I said. Leo was a bit perplexed. I had never challenged him to a fight without first bein' angered.  
  
"Yeah...okay..." We went directly to the dojo. After a few minutes, Don, Mike, and even Splinter came to watch the show.  
  
"Now Raph, I'm gonna go easy on you because I don't want to hurt you." Leo said.  
  
"Shut up and fight me!" I said. As I went to throw a punch at him his ducked it and grabbed my arms. Then, he tripped me and threw me onto the ground. I got back up. "You're not gonna take me out that easy." I said, brushin' myself off. He went to kick me, but I ducked and pulled his other leg out from under him, causin' him to fall. He got up and threw a punch at me, it hit me in the face. Then, he went to kick me and I ducked it and tripped him again. This time when he got up he was greeted with a kick in the stomach and a punch in the face. We fought for hours.   
  
"Good fight." He said between pants.  
  
"Thanks." I shook his hand.  
  
Mike didn't go into any more comas and I got my legs back to the way they used to be. Don sent his genetic regeneration operation report to The National Science Foundation and was rewarded with some important medal. Sometimes it's weird how things go isn't it? Well, that's my story, believe it or not. Thanks for readin'. This is Raph signin' out. Peace.  



End file.
